How Much is the White House Really Worth?

Election season is on the horizon, with the most coveted job in the United States once again up for grabs. Republican Mitt Romney is going all out in his bid to unseat President Obama from the White House, spending a whopping $78,624,564 in his campaign so far, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Obama vs Romney - Image courtesy of DonkeyHotey

For his part, our friend Obama has certainly been no slouch in the money-raising stakes. In fact, the incumbent’s spending so far – an incredible $172,370,942 – has dwarfed that of his main challenger, bringing the total amount burned by the two rivals to a staggering $250,995,506 by March 31.

This huge spending spree got the boys at Movoto thinking once again – rather than spend all that money on trying to get in to the White House, wouldn’t it be cheaper just to buy the damn thing outright? How much can the White House really be worth?

To get a grasp of the true cost of the White House, our friends at Movoto turned to the Koitz Group, specialists with over a decade’s experience in Washington DC luxury real estate (after all, it is a very nice, White House).

The Koitz Group’s experts duly got their heads together to work out just how much the White House would cost, if it was listed for sale on the open market. After a great deal of agonizing, arguing, bickering and name calling, they eventually came back with the following infographic that shows just how much America’s most famous house would cost on today’s market:

Koitz Group based their $110 million valuation on the cold hard facts – comparing the features and amenities the White House has to offer with similar luxury homes in the Washington DC area. Even so, this was not an easy task, considering that the second largest luxury home in the city, owned by AOL co-founder Jim Kimsey, is barely half the size of the White House.

Kimsey’s home is estimated to be worth around $45 million, according to Jason Koitz, chief real estate strategist at the Koitz Group. In addition, the property is reckoned to have only 25% of the available floor space that’s found in the White House.

By estimating the value of Kimsey’s home and other luxury properties in the area, Koitz believes that the $110 million figure is a pretty realistic one for what the White House has to offer, and yet…

Estimated value of the White House

Realistically speaking however, Koitz concedes that the White House wouldn’t fetch anything like that amount in today’s market, saying that a sales price of just $75 million to $80 million would be more likely.

Of course, Koitz’s factoring doesn’t take into account the historical value of the White House – should Washington DC’s most famous piece of real estate ever find itself up for auction, it’s likely that novelty value alone would ensure a price that far exceeds any realistic appraisal of its value.

“We could talking about the world’s first billion dollar purchase for a single-family house,” admits Koitz.

Suddenly, Obama and Romney’s spending is beginning to look like peanuts in comparison.